by Melissa Nordell 
Organizations such as Open Doors International, Voice of the Martyrs and International Christian Concern work to defend the human rights of persecuted Christians around the world, to send financial assistance, to advocate for their rights and release from imprisonment, to create awareness of their plight, and to send Bibles and food to the oppressed and refugees.
Filed under end times, missions, persecution, prayer, recruitment
By Amanda Lynn
“We feel like we are right back in the time of Acts, experiencing God’s amazing power and love covering us all,” writes a Pioneer in India. “We are desperate for your constant prayers!”
God is moving in surprising and miraculous ways as He reaches out through them to a community of hijra, or eunuchs, in their host community. As He pours Himself out they are being transformed.
Eunuchs in India are transgender men dressed as women. But it’s more than outward female adornment. These people identify themselves as women, talk and walk like women. Continue reading
Filed under evangelism & outreach, prayer, teaching
fields ripe for harvest
By Jeremy Reynalds
A human rights agency has learned that Indian authorities asked three American Christian women, including a 15-year-old, to leave India after Hindu organizations accused them of attempting to convert non-Christians by offering them incentives in Alappuzha district, Kerala State.
International Christian Concern (ICC) reported in a news release that according to the report by the Times of India, although Indian police admitted they do not have any evidence indicating that the women participated in proselytizing, they still asked them to leave because the Christian women were about to attend prayer sessions.
ICC reported that Asok Kumar, a superintendent of police in Alappuzha District said, “We have not received any evidence to indicate the three women were engaged in conversion-related activities. However, they were about to attend religious prayer sessions. Their tourist visa does not allow them to attend any meeting, including prayer sessions. We were not clear about their intentions. That is why we asked them to leave the country, and they agreed.”
Filed under persecution
By Shireen Bhatia
An attempt by police in India’s Madhya Pradesh to survey the state’s Christian minority came to light this month and left church leaders calling for a federal investigation into alleged religious profiling.
Dr. John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council, called for a National Commission for Minorities probe into the survey, which sought data on where Catholics and Protestants live, their economic status, and details of Christian-operated schools, including sources of income and whether they get foreign funding.
“Such surveys are uncalled for in view of the Union government’s own census and the National Sample Surveys, which give all the data that development agencies may ever want,” Dayal told Compass. “Surveys of this nature, especially by the police, amount to religious profiling, which is illegal.”
To be carried out at the district and block level, the surveys reportedly also sought information on the number of Christians and church buildings, including those under construction, along with details of the clergy heading them; a list of Christians involved in criminal activities, with details about whether they enjoy any political patronage and how much; details of annual functions held at district and block levels, including venues, organizers and funds; and areas that are socially “sensitive” because of their Christian populations.
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Filed under persecution
I met this morning with Jossy Chacko. His organization, Empart, has started over 4,000 house churches in north India.
Jossy
His heart was broken for the poor on a train trip to see the Taj Mahal on his honeymoon. A small boy named Raju was sweeping his train car very diligently. Jossy and his wife befriended the boy and (unbelievably) invited him along on their honeymoon. Over the course of two weeks the boy shared a remarkable sagacity for one so young about things beyond his years: sex trafficking, the selling of human body parts, and other unmentionables he had already witnessed.
Jossy says the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” was under-done. Conditions for the poor in the slums of India — about 718 million people — are much worse than portrayed.
At a critical point in Jossy’s life he discovered this important truth: “The only reason for me to exist is to fulfill the Great Commission.”
Jossy says that Patrick Johnstone first informed him that there are more people in north India who have never heard the Gospel than any other country in the world. Further, Johnstone maintains that north India will be the touchstone of success or failure of the missions movement in the years ahead.
